Below is a post from www.pawsontour.com
Summary: if planing pn driving the Popayan - Inza road or around San Agustin, please check with local police army whether its safe.
INFO concerning FARC in Colombia: we drove the road between Popayan - Inza 2 months ago and knew about the FARC in the area. The police and army we asked warned us not to drive during the night, but during the day it SHOULD be fine they said.
We didn't see any, but we met now 2 overlanders that met the FARC in this area. One of them and another I know from their blog saw them on the Popayan-San Augustin road. Masked men with machine guns pulled them over and asked for money. The overlanders said they have no money and played dumb. Surprisingly the FARC let them go?! The other couple got stopped near Inza. The overlander lady told them to get a life and just left . It looks like there is lots of FARC around this area, but they don't seem to be very aggressive. Still, take precautions, a few years ago this had ended differently.
Also, I saw that some overlanders drove from Mocoa to the south-east, that is totally no-go area (highest coca density). Take the nice Mocoa-Pasto road instead.
Still, the area around Popayan, San Augustin, Tierradentro is beautiful and it would be a pity not to visit this area! Just take precautions and ask around.
Best road would probably be Popayan-Inza, although it's getting paved and is right now a big muddy mess! The road through the Purace park I was told by the ranger working there has no FARC either. We drove up to middle and turned around. Just ask the army and police, they are very friendly!
Original facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/groups/panamtravelers/permalink/747575051947996/
Summary: if planing pn driving the Popayan - Inza road or around San Agustin, please check with local police army whether its safe.
INFO concerning FARC in Colombia: we drove the road between Popayan - Inza 2 months ago and knew about the FARC in the area. The police and army we asked warned us not to drive during the night, but during the day it SHOULD be fine they said.
We didn't see any, but we met now 2 overlanders that met the FARC in this area. One of them and another I know from their blog saw them on the Popayan-San Augustin road. Masked men with machine guns pulled them over and asked for money. The overlanders said they have no money and played dumb. Surprisingly the FARC let them go?! The other couple got stopped near Inza. The overlander lady told them to get a life and just left . It looks like there is lots of FARC around this area, but they don't seem to be very aggressive. Still, take precautions, a few years ago this had ended differently.
Also, I saw that some overlanders drove from Mocoa to the south-east, that is totally no-go area (highest coca density). Take the nice Mocoa-Pasto road instead.
Still, the area around Popayan, San Augustin, Tierradentro is beautiful and it would be a pity not to visit this area! Just take precautions and ask around.
Best road would probably be Popayan-Inza, although it's getting paved and is right now a big muddy mess! The road through the Purace park I was told by the ranger working there has no FARC either. We drove up to middle and turned around. Just ask the army and police, they are very friendly!
Original facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/groups/panamtravelers/permalink/747575051947996/